State elections were held in
South Australia on 19 March 1938. All 39 seats in the
South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent
Liberal and Country League government led by
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
of South Australia
Richard L. Butler defeated the opposition
Australian Labor Party led by
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
Andrew Lacey.
Background
This election was the start of the electoral malapportionment which became known as the
Playmander. It consisted of rural districts enjoying a 2-to-1 advantage in the
state parliament, even though they contained less than half of the population, as well as a change from
multi-member to
single-member electorates, and the number of MPs in the lower house was reduced from 46 to 39. Labor remained out of power until the
1965 election.
Tom Stott was one of 14 of 39 lower house MPs to be elected as an
independent, which as a grouping won 40 percent of the primary vote, more than either of the major parties. Stott was the de facto leader of the independent caucus within parliament. The incumbent Butler LCL
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
only won 15 of 39 seats, which led to uncertainty over which party, if any, could form government. This confusion led Stott, as the most experienced and well known of the independent MPs, to believe that he could become
Premier of South Australia. He failed to gain the support of sufficient independents and LCL members to achieve this but, as the de facto leader of the independent caucus within parliament, the LCL government were often forced to rely on his support.
Results
See also
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Candidates of the South Australian state election, 1938
This is a list of candidates of the 1938 South Australian state election. The House of Assembly changed from having multi-member to single-member electorates at this election, which combined with the partisan turmoil of the two previous terms saw a ...
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Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1938-1941
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
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Playmander
References
History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSAState and federal election results
in Australia since 1890
{{South Australian elections
Elections in South Australia
1938 elections in Australia
1930s in South Australia
March 1938 events